In my marketing class, we had an entire chapter dealing with Internet. There are few trends and characteristics in marketing as well as general usage of the world wide web that deals with how consumers and users deal with Internet when it comes to the decision making process involving purchases and information gathering. Following are the few characteristics we discussed in class:

User control characteristic
-The customer determines both the direction and the flow of content in the website.

Internet culture characteristic
-Customers are reluctant to pay for content available on the web.

Graphic interface characteristic
-Customers use a combination of verbal and non-verbal cues to navigate through your site.

Information-rich environment characteristic
-It is possible to have too much information in a website.
-It is important to organize the information in your website in a way that aids navigation and avoids information overload.

Computer-mediated characteristic
-The computer allows a customer to consider a larger number of options while going through the purchase process.